Atlas of the Commercial Fisheries Around Ireland
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Atlas of the Commercial Fisheries Around Ireland 2009 Review of the Fisheries of Relevance to Ireland Fisheries Science Services ..to research, assess and advise Fisheries Science Services, Rinville, Oranmore, Co Galway, Ireland Atlas of the Commercial Fisheries Around Ireland Throughout 2009 the FSS Team were Involved in Data Collection, Data Management, Data Analysis, Conducting Assessments, Formulating and Providing Advice and Carrying out Scientific Research on Fish Stocks, both Nationally and Internationally. The Results of this Work are Presented in this 2009 Atlas. December 2009 NOTE This Atlas reviews the fishing activity on fish stocks of relevance to Ireland that come under the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The Atlas focuses on fishing opportunities (Total Allowable Catches – TACs), landings trends, fleet activity and the state of the resource in the waters around Ireland (principally ICES Sub-areas VI and VII). The Atlas also deals with fish stocks exploited by Ireland outside Sub-areas VI and VII. Every effort has been made to use the most up to date information available on fishing opportunities, landings, effort, and on the state of the resource base. The various ICES and STECF reports and databases together with various EU Regulations should be consulted for the definitive figures and regulatory articles. The cover shows a twin rigger fishing for prawns off the Irish coast. CONTENTS Introduction 1 Section 1: Fishing Opportunities 7 Section 2: Fishing Trends 12 Section 3: Fleet Activity 38 Section 4: State of the Fisheries Resource 56 Appendix I: Definition of fisheries technical terms and acronyms 57 Appendix II: List of Species Groupings in the Atlas 58 Introduction The purpose of the Atlas of Commercial Fisheries around Ireland, is to provide the most up to date information on the fishing activity on the fisheries resource in the waters around Ireland, that will inform the general public, policy makers, managers, scientists and stakeholders on these fisheries. The information is presented in a very visual format and the language used is as ‘non technical’ as possible. The focus is on stocks that are regulated by Total Allowable Catch (TAC) under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The atlas will inform the debate on the upcoming review of the CFP. The Atlas gives information, for the main fisheries, on Total Allowable Catches (TACs), landings trends and fishing activity (effort levels) in the waters around Ireland. In addition, the Atlas provides a brief overview on the state of the resource as indicated by the latest scientific assessments and advice. The most recent information and scientific advice on individual fish stocks is provided in the Stock Book, available at www.marine.ie. The atlas is divided into four sections: Biology The waters around Ireland contain a very productive and biologically diverse marine ecosystem. These waters include a large area of shallow continental shelf (<200 m), two important off-shore banks (Porcupine and Rockall) and a large area of continental slope (Figure 1). Over the last number of centuries fisheries have developed and expanded from coastal waters initially, throughout the shelf in the last century, to the deep sea and oceanic waters in the last few decades. In 2007, an estimated 1.9 million tonnes of fish were taken by the fishing fleets of EU member states from the waters around Ireland (defined below). Ireland landed 185,000 tonnes of these fish or 10% of the international landings. Irish waters are critically important in the life-cycle of many species. For example the largest and most valuable migratory pelagic stocks in the Northeast Atlantic (mackerel, horse mackerel and blue whiting) all spawn off the west coast of Ireland. Large stocks of hake, anglerfish and megrim also spawn along the continental slope west and south of Ireland. There are important herring, cod, haddock, whiting, plaice and sole spawning areas in the Irish Sea and the Celtic Sea. The shelf area and coastal waters are important nursery areas for young fish. Shellfish stocks such as prawn, crab, lobster, shrimp, scallop, whelk and cockles are also abundant regionally or locally. Boundaries The waters around Ireland are separated by a number of geo-political boundaries. These define zones, which have a range of purposes including access to mineral wealth, scientific study, regulatory jurisdiction and living resources. At the largest spatial scale, the waters of the Northeast Atlantic are divided into a series of Divisions and Sub-divisions by International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES), these are used to geo-reference the boundaries of fish stocks and fisheries management areas and to coordinate scientific oceanographic and marine resource research (Figure 2). The principal ICES areas around Ireland are Sub-area VI (composed of ICES Divisions VIa, and VIb) and Sub-area VII (ICES Divisions VIIa, VIIb, VIIc, VIIf, VIIg, VIIh, VIIj, and VIIk) (Figures 2 & 3). 1 Introduction Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) are sea zones within which a country has special (exclusive) rights over the exploitation and use of marine resources. The boundary extends from the coast of an individual state seaward to 200 nautical miles. Where EEZ’s overlap a boundary equidistant between the states is drawn (Figure 3). While individual member states of the EU still retain Exclusive Economic Zones for exploitation of mineral resources e.g. oil, and hold responsibility for all aspects of control and monitoring, with the advent of the Common Fisheries Policy in 1983, a single EC wide EEZ was formed, solely for the purpose of exploitation of commercial fisheries (other exclusive issues remained unchanged), so that fishing fleets from one country are free to fish within the EEZ of another (provided that they have a quota for the fish stock in that area). This open access for fishing within the EEZ extends from 12 nautical miles to the 200 mile limit. The Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is wholly contained within ICES Sub-areas VI and VII. The open access to fisheries resources in the EEZ of members states EEZ is in some cases modified. One example is the Biologically Sensitive Area (BSA) (Figure 3), established in 2002 to protect nursery grounds to the west and south of Ireland. Access of non-Irish vessels to the BSA is restricted and effort regimes also apply to Irish vessels fishing in the BSA. In waters within 12 nautical miles of their coast EU member states exercise exclusivity, in the area known as the territorial coastal waters. Ireland’s territorial waters are approximately 41000km2 in extent. Ireland retains exclusive access to fisheries in this zone with exception in the case of certain fisheries, in restricted locations, between 6-12nm where France, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and U.K. have fishing rights. In waters within 6 nautical miles of the coast Irish vessels have sole access to fisheries with the exception of Northern Irish vessels who can also fish, under certain conditions, in this zone. In the interest of making this Atlas as comprehensive as possible data has been provided from a number of different sources. Thus some data presented relate to ICES Sub-areas VI and VII, excluding VIId and VIIe, which in this Atlas are defined as waters around Ireland. Other data relate to the Irish EEZ only. These data are not directly comparable as the Irish EEZ is a significantly smaller area than ICES Sub-areas VI and VII (Figure 3). Other data provided cover Irish fishing activity outside these areas. Management and Regulation Within the European Union, fisheries are managed through the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) using regulation of inputs (effort and gear regulation) and outputs (TACs and minimum landing sizes). TACs and effort controls are established by regulation each year for most stocks in the EU, including waters around Ireland. Other technical measures may be changed less frequently. Other than Nephrops, the majority of shellfish species are not regulated by TAC. The TACs are decided based on advice from the Advisory Committee (ACOM) of ICES and the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF). ACOM provides management advice based on the current biological status of the stocks and their exploitation rates. The ACOM advice is based on precautionary considerations to ensure the long term sustainability of individual stocks. The STECF advice contains biological, technical and economic considerations. Most TACs are then negotiated at the Council of Ministers meeting each December in Brussels. Member States are allocated a proportion of TACs which become the national quota (Figure 4). This proportion is based on an agreed fixed share (i.e. does not change annually) and is known as “relative stability”. For full details of the most recent Total Allowable Catches (TAC) and quotas please see the European Commission website www.europa.eu. It should be pointed out here that in practice the TACs are actually Total Allowable Landings (TALs) since discarding is legal in most EU waters. In many fisheries discarding is prevalent for a variety of reasons. This compromises the efficacy of TACs as a management tool. For stocks straddling EU and other Coastal States, TACs are set according to annual quota negotiations. Stocks in international waters, beyond EEZs, are managed by the North Eastern Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC). TACs for tuna species are set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT). 2 Introduction Figure 1 Topography of the Seafloor in the Waters Around Ireland. Rockall Bank Stanton Rockall Bank Trough Feni Ridge Porcupine Bank Porcupine Seabight Goban Spur Porcupine Abyssal Plain 3 Introduction Figure 2 ICES Divisions in the North East Atlantic. IIb XIVa IIa Va 31 XIVb 30 Vb1 Vb2 IVa 32 29 27 IIIa 28 VIb VIa IIId 26 IVb XII IIIb 25 IIIc 24 VIIc VIIa VIIb IVc VIIg VIIf VIIk VIIj VIId VIIe VIIh VII Ia VIIIe VIIId VIIIb VIIIc X IXb IXa 4 Introduction Figure 3 The Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the 12 nautical mile limit, the Biologically Sensitive Area (BSA) and the ICES Divisions around the Irish Coast.